The goal of the pilot project grant program is to stimulate innovative interdisciplinary research on aging and adult development, with an emphasis on integrative approaches to health and well-being. Support for small scale, short-term projects will be a potent mechanism for attracting new investigators to interdisciplinary research based on the MIDUS I and II data sets. We request support for two pilot projects per year during years 02 through 06 of the grant. Funding will range up to $15,000 (in total costs) per project per year. A total of ten pilot grants will be awarded on the basis of annual competition and review. Criteria for evaluating individual projects include scholarly merit, innovation, interdisciplinary focus, creative use of the MIDUS data, potential contribution to the larger research objectives of the P01, and the potential to result in a larger proposal for funding by NIA or other outside agencies. Preference will also be given to projects focusing on the central themes of the P01: socioeconomic factors in health and illness; gender and health/illness; psychosocial and behavioral factors as protection or risk factors, with an emphasis on themes of resilience and vulnerability; pre-disease pathways, with an emphasis on early warning indicators (e.g., allostatic load); and integrative science, or incorporating a multidisciplinary approach to understanding life course variations in health and illness. At the end of the project period, investigators will prepare a report which describes findings, papers, presentations or proposals that developed from the pilot projects. Completed research papers will be prepared in PDF and will be posted on the MIDUS website.